Do you know who Jackie Burke is? Jackie Burke! Dude, f’real? First off, if you haven’t gone to Secret In The Dirt yet, what have you been waiting for? Second…he’s the man. I was reading this and was really struck by this passage…

It is not the average distance you hit a club, but the distance you hit the ball most often. That sounds like the same thing, but I have found though years of harassing poor, unsuspecting amateurs that the “most often” shot is usually five and sometimes as much as 10 yards shorter than the best shot. But the fear of going over the green chides people into being short all day long. Using the most often approach can result in five or more saved shots from not being short, which is a lot better for your score than the one bogey you might make from the career shot that sails over the green.

I like what the great Jackie Burke said to one of his students when he was pondering a club choice. He asked the unsuspecting young star what he could hit over the green. The student responded, “5-iron.”

Burke then responded, “Well then, wouldn’t that make this a 6?”

Just think about that for a second.

Read it again and try to recall rounds of yours in the past where you agonized over a club selection, checked your GPS or fired another shot with your rangefinder, obsessing over a club choice…we all know how this story ends. Either you try to prove your manliness, not by any real measure of manliness mind you, but by SHOWING THE WORLD that you can hit that 170 yard 8i (my personal favorite) or you get so angry with yourself that you just had to take more club, and instead of putting a smooth swing on it, you SHOW THE WORLD you totally should’ve taken the 8i as you watch your ball sail 10 yards over the green.

Oh don’t even try to bullshit your way around it, I know you’re lying. (more…)

Yessir, the band is back together. Hell, we even picked up a new member. All the hype, drama, and controversy surrounding the 2013 Masters tournament was too much to keep us away. But we’ll get to all that later. All you need to know is that none of us played Augusta this past weekend, which means we’re kicking off our 2014 Masters campaign!

A lot happened this weekend at Augusta, but let me first and foremost congratulate Adam Scott. Scott has been one hell of a Tour player for a long time now and the only reason it’s taken him this long to win his first big one is that dreaded flatstick. So it’s only fitting that he won this tournament with clutch putting. His always impressive ball-striking kept him in the mix, but it was his putting that earned him the prestigious green jacket. (more…)